Am J Phys Med Rehabil. 2025 Jul 2. doi: 10.1097/PHM.0000000000002793. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Stroke is a major cause of disability, impacting mobility worldwide. Overground robotic-assisted gait training (o-RAGT) uses wearable exoskeletons to improve walking. This systematic review and meta-analysis assess its effectiveness versus conventional gait training in enhancing gait velocity and balance in post-stroke patients.
DESIGN: Our search was conducted in the Pubmed, Cochrane, ScienceDirect, Scopus and PEDro electronic databases for English journal articles about human randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of the last two decades, investigating o-RAGT effects on gait parameters of poststroke patients compared with conventional gait training.
RESULTS: A comprehensive literature search identified seven RCTs with a total of 288 participants. Meta-analysis results indicated that o-RAGT significantly improved post-intervention gait velocity (summary mean difference: 0.09 m/sec, 95% CI: 0.02-0.17), while other gait parameters, such as stride length and cadence, showed no statistically significant differences. The intervention was well-tolerated, with no major adverse events reported.
CONCLUSION: Despite the positive impact on gait speed, challenges remain, including high device costs and the need for further research to optimize training parameters. These findings support the potential of o-RAGT as an effective tool for gait rehabilitation in stroke survivors, highlighting the need for larger studies with long-term follow-up to refine its clinical application.
PMID:40601918 | DOI:10.1097/PHM.0000000000002793
